Natural Selection is raising money for its COVID-19 Village Support Programme through an art auction on Facebook on May 20 at 12h00 GMT.

A customised painting by South African artist Jemima Sargent, will be auctioned. Her work is displayed at Natural Selection’s Lekkerwater Beach Lodge in the De Hoop Nature Reserve in the Western Cape and Hoanib Valley Camp in north-western Namibia.

Bidding will open on Natural Selection’s Facebook page on May 20 and close on May 22 at 18h00 GMT. The winner will be able to choose an animal for the painting from the reserves where Natural Selection operates.

Sargent will bring the subject to life in an A2 watercolour and pen artwork created live on social media in 60 minutes for friends and family of the winner to watch.

The Natural Selection COVID-19 Village Support Programme is transporting food parcels to remote villages in Botswana and Namibia to improve the nourishment of communities in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A hundred families in the Khwai Village in Botswana received food parcels in April, and during May the reach will expand.